The tenth anniversary of the death of American journalist Wallace: I am not always brave, but I am always brave to face the truth

Editor's note: Today marks the tenth anniversary of the death of American journalist Mike Wallace (1918-2012). Ten years ago today, this perhaps the most famous and symbolic figure in the history of American television journalism stopped interrogating the world at the age of 94. For decades, from Khomeini to Ahmadinejad, Martin Luther King Jr. to Ayn Rand, but also Reagan, Kennedy, Kołokian and Clemens... Wallace and many national leaders, celebrities from all walks of life, ordinary people in front of the camera dialogue. In his signature show, 60 Minutes, scandals, shady scenes and war are revealed in a playful tone and pungent questioning. It can be said that Wallace never gave up his examination of the world throughout his life, and he has always been a great skeptic and a practitioner of public opinion supervision. However, whether his practice and success can be replicated is always a question worth pondering.

Ten years later, this 2012 article published in China Economic Weekly may allow us to get to know this news fighter from another perspective and see if it is difficult or easy to face the truth.

　　▲ Mike Wallace.

【Text】

Mike Wallace, a well-known American journalist and host of CBS's well-known column "60 Minutes", left his audience forever on April 7, local time, at the age of 93. The overwhelming news obituary was filled with all kinds of praise: "the godfather of television", "the model of journalists", "the upholder of integrity and justice"...

With Wallace's death, two of the most iconic figures in Chinese journalism education who have been hailed as models of modern Western journalism (the other being the Italian female journalist Farage, who died in 2006) have become history.

However, the real Wallace is not as legendary as the outside world advertises. "In a number of circles, I've been treated like a brainless guy who's obsessed with sensationalism and netting the broadcasters. During this time, I learned an important and valuable lesson: If you pursue controversy, you have to figure out that this is a double-edged sword that can easily hurt yourself. Wallace said in his memoirs Between You and Me.

Indeed, Wallace's "impulse" caused him a lot of trouble, and it also made him not always show such courage in his journalism work. Just like the movie "Shocking Insider", in the face of the tobacco giant, Wallace behind the camera will sometimes hesitate and be deterred, but in the end, he can get up from depression and entanglement and face the truth.

Depression becomes a disease

Wallace was first diagnosed with depression in the fall of 1984. At the time, General Westmoreland took Wallace and CBS to court for defamation and demanded $120 million in damages. The lawsuit lasted for four months, during which newspapers in the streets and alleys put hats such as "fraud, slander, fraud" on Wallace's head.

The case ended with an apology from CBS and a withdrawal of Westmoreland's claim for compensation, but Wallace fell into a deep depression over his own fault and damaged reputation.

"At first I couldn't sleep, then I couldn't eat. I feel desperate, but there is no way to suppress this emotion?? I lost hope in everything, like crazy. I used to do a show about depression for 60 Minutes, but I didn't really appreciate depression at the time. In the end, I broke down and had to stay in bed. Wallace recalled afterwards.

Wallace's wife took him to the doctor, but the doctor told him that "if you disclose your condition, it will affect your public image."

"I hid my plight from the majority. Except for my doctor, my family, and two very good friends, no one knows the pain I endured. Considering that I am a public figure and recognized as a journalist known for being tough and difficult to deal with, I would be ashamed to be seen as a 'poor egg' plagued by depression. Because, I know, this is what most people think about this disease. Wallace recalled.

But in the end, Wallace chose to be honest with the audience and opened up about his illness. For Wallace, a quick spit is the most helpful way to recover.

Years later, when he was asked what he was most proud of, his answer was short: "Survive." "There's nothing more proud than finding your own way to fight disease." And my way is to be honest with myself and be honest with others. At the same time, I also learned to be friendly. ”

"Slandering" the President of the United States?

Although Wallace has interviewed almost all U.S. presidents since Kennedy, that doesn't mean all presidents like him. And the one who disliked him the most was Kennedy.

As the only U.S. president in history to win the Pulitzer Prize (then a senator), Kennedy was proud of his book" But shortly after he won the award, an Ark-like figure appeared, and this person was the Washington columnist Drew Pearson, who insisted that "Don't Let Go" was the work of someone else.

In 1957, Wallace asked Pearson on the show: Are you sure that "Don't Let It Be" was written for Senator Kennedy?

PEARSON: I'm sure.

Wallace: Is the author really someone else?

PEARSON: Yes.

Wallace: Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for that.

PEARSON: Exactly.

The next day, Wallace received a call from Kennedy's office asking Pearson or Wallace to make a public apology on the radio for remarks about the copyright of "Don't Let Go." But both refused.

"The ghostwriter's name is Ted Sorensen??" Kennedy mentions his name in the preface to His book, saying that he has provided invaluable help in the collection and collation of information in the book, which is the limit of Kennedy's recognition of the credit of others. Wallace recalled.

In the end, the director of the ABC, who wallace saw as a "compromiser," had to come out in person and apologize to the camera. To Wallace's inability to bear it, the apology was actually written by Secretary Kennedy.

"I was outraged to see my boss compromise on the Kennedy family to this point." Wallace recalled. And this incident also laid the groundwork for him to leave ABC later.

Plunge headlong into the trap of "truth."

Wallace had just emerged from his first onset of depression in 1985 to work as a host on ABC's live show, The Mike Wallace Interview. On that occasion, he tried every means to find the then-infamous gang boss Mitch Cohen and ask him to talk about the violent experience of killing people and overstepping goods. Under Wallace's "provocation", Cohen opened the conversation box.

Cohen began to reminisce endlessly about how he had killed someone, and then the conversation shifted to illegal gambling, which had lucratively made him profitable, a topic that later caused Wallace great trouble.

Wallace, excited by the exciting conversation, kept asking: "Mitch, in order to maintain the big business of gambling, what level did you bribe the police to reach?" ”

On the live show, Cohen named a person, and that was Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker, and said Parker was "the most deranged villain."

"I was completely overwhelmed by the excitement at that time and continued to go deeper in my own way, plunging headlong into trouble. I called his target 'Revered Commissioner William Parker' and asked Cohen to elaborate on it. Wallace recalled.

Unsurprisingly, the day after the show aired, Parker held a press conference arguing that the station had slandered his reputation. Wallace had to stand by the side of the ABC captain and apologize to Parker in front of the camera.

The police chief sued ABC, and although Parker eventually agreed to settle out of court with $45,000 in damages, the matter turned Wallace into a "rat in a soup pot" at ABC.

"Our position at ABC naturally became delicate and the show managed to last a few more months, but the countdown to the rest of our days at ABC had begun. We didn't want to sit still, so we prepared a safe retreat back to the more smelling local TV stations. Wallace recalled.

Although these disputes are still difficult to distinguish between right and wrong in retrospect, what is ultimately remembered is not whether the police chief took bribes or whether Kennedy was ghostwrited, but Mike Wallace, a somewhat childish dreamer in search of the truth.

【Link】Foreign journalists influencing China

Joseph Pulitzer, editor and publisher of american newspapers and periodicals, is known as the "king of the newspaper industry". An iconic figure in the American popular press, the Pulitzer Prize and the founder of Columbia University's School of Journalism. Pulitzer was Chinese recognized because of the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, founded in his will, and many of the famous articles that won this prize are used as teaching materials for Chinese journalism education.

Edgar Snow was a former correspondent and correspondent for several Newspapers in Europe and the United States. He entered China in 1928; from April 1933 to June 1935, he was also a lecturer in the Department of Journalism at Yenching University in Beiping; in June 1936, he visited the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, visited Mao Zedong and many other CCP leaders, became the first Western journalist to interview the Red Zone, wrote a large number of newsletters, and wrote "Journey to the West" and so on.

Oriana Farage, an Italian war correspondent, has covered the Vietnam War, the Indo-Pakistani War, the Middle East War and the South African Unrest. His style was "sharp questioning essence is an equal posture and independent personality before authority" and was hailed as the queen of journalism in the 20th century. In 1980, Deng Xiaoping gave her interviews twice in three days. This landmark interview brought China to know this "great woman." (End) (Source: China Economic Weekly)

Author/Reporter/Li Xiaoxiao

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